Trinity Christian School builds house for family in Mexico

by Celia Shortt

The team from Trinity Christian and others who helped. First row, from left, Mandy Price, Heinz Gardner, Jacob Grady, Cade Skinner, David Ito, Mary
Simonton, Maggie Wheeler, Bianca Sharpe, Cady Sikes, Hannah Simonton, Bethany Simonton. Second row, from left, Jake White, Cody Totten, Jay Snipes,
Michael Branch, Peyton Skinner, Matt Grady, Caleb Hess, Jack Kidd, David Quin~ones. Jake White and Michael Branch are interns with Casas. They lead the build.
David Quin~ones is the son of a Casas staff member and helps out with most builds in Acuna. All others are Trinity Christian students or family members of
them.

Trinity Volleyball Coach Joe Camp has a passion for missions and recently used his passion to help students at Trinity Christian experience international missions by leading a team to Acuna, Mexico.

“I wanted to provide something that was a legitimate international missions trip,” he said.

Camp and 28 middle school students, high school students, and parents left for the border town of Del Rio, Texas, on Sunday, July 6. Del Rio is where the missions organization, Casas Por Cristo, is located. Casas Por Cristo builds houses for poor families in Mexico, which was Camp and his team’s job for the trip.

Each team member was responsible for raising $600 to cover the cost of the trip and the materials for the house.

For this trip, the team stayed in Del Rio and traveled every morning to Acuna, Mexico, where they spent the day working on the house.

“You have a lot going on, but it gets done,” said Camp of the project.

The house they built is small, compared to U.S. standards and took about $7500 of materials to build. The family Camp and his team built it for lives on a weekly income of $95. To buy the materials and provide the labor for the house, it would take three years worth of the family’s income.

“It’s not about the number of houses we build,” said Camp. “It’s about the lives that are changed.”

For Camp, the most gratifying part of the trip was to watch the kids learn new things, like work.

“Some of them learned what hard work was,” he said.

He also enjoyed seeing them see the changes in their hearts and minds.

They “can do this sort of thing at home,” he added. “When someone has a tangible need, fill it, and show them God loves them.”

Camp hopes to make this trip an annual event and is encouraging the team members to lead their own team in the future.